Flashes of Beauty
by irishileana
Summary: Lily and James are sort of an epic romance. If you're going to write a dozen drabbles about any couple, it may as well be them. Here, I present twelve drabbles that carry just glimpses into the love between Lily and James Potter.
1. Chapter 1

Beads of sweat inched down her neck, pressed there by the invisible force that she was just barely familiar with. It was the pressure of someone's line of sight. Someone was watching her.

Unable to stand it, she whirled around and was shocked to see the boy with the dark eyes and the inquisitive head tilt.

"What are you doing?"

Sirius grinned in his way of admitting defeat (couldn't have blushed like a normal boy, no). "James said you had a nice bum and I thought I would come to see. He's insane."

He scurried away before Lily could hit him. Inside, she smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm bored."

"Aren't we all."

He absentmindedly charmed a log from the fireplace to bounce against Peter's head (Peter didn't appreciate it and Remus cast a quick shield charm).

"Quick, find a topic of discussion."

They were silent, much to Sirius' dismay. He rolled his eyes. "Fine. We'll revert to usual conversation–"

"Excellent! Her eyes seemed even more green than usual today . . ."


	3. Chapter 3

The restaurant was noisy and overcrowded, which was exactly the kind of surroundings he would have normally preferred, but it was far too fancy and it was a muggle place, of all things.

"Come on, James," Lily cajoled. "It's a good experience."

He sighed and picked the grapes up from the plate, figuring that to bite one off at a time would be quite attractive to his date–his date! It was rather chewy and tasteless, but it wasn't impressive to complain.

"Mmm, tasty."

It also wasn't impressive when your date was giggling behind her menu. "What?"

"Those are wax grapes, love."


	4. Chapter 4

"I heard about the proposal."

Lily blinked. Who knew that these five simple words (which generally caused for a joyous occasion) could be accompanied with such a devastated look? She patted Alice on the head. "Weddings are a good thing, honey."

"No, I mean . . ." she blushed. "I heard about how it happened. With the, um . . . barbershop quartet."

Lily grinned. "What's there to lose? The infamous Marauders singing in four-part off-key harmony? I nearly peed myself laughing."

"But . . . but . . . oh, whatever."


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't know about this . . ."

"Come on, just close your eyes and breathe."

"I'm not exactly in my element here, Lils."

"Okay, you can obviously open them now."

". . ."

"James, open your eyes. Do you think that makes Alice look heavy? I don't think so."

Clang!

"Is there a problem here?"

"He, um . . . ran into the door of the dressing room."

". . . Fiancés."


	6. Chapter 6

"You're kidding me. I can't do this. I can't get . . . married!"

"You can, mate, you can . . . you're up here already, aren't you?"

"What am I doing? This isn't me."

"You love her, mate."

"I know. But . . ."

"James, you're not walking out on Lily. Not Lily Evans. Not the girl you've been in love with since the first day of Hogwarts. You can do this. You want to do this. Look, there she is now. Look!"

"She looks . . . she's so . . . Sirius . . . you're kidding me."

"Knew you could do it."


	7. Chapter 7

"You, sir, can not dance."

"Hush. I was once a river dancer."

"Oh?"

"Yes. I used to dance by the river."

"That doesn't count."

"Sure does!"

"Why would you dance by the river?"

"People pay money."

"To watch you make a fool of yourself?"

"I resent that."

"And how many times did you fall into the river?"

". . . I was drenched. Daily."

"You may have just killed our first dance as husband and wife, James Potter."

"Well, you certainly made the first kiss as husband and wife worthwhile, Lily Potter."


	8. Chapter 8

The day was over. The dress and the walking and the vows and the kiss and the pronouncement and the humiliation via Sirius' speech and the cake and the dancing and the butterbeer and the firewhiskey (just a bit, though certain uncles had just a bit more) and the bouquet and, oh, the relatives . . . it was over. There was only one thing left to do.

James picked Lily up gallantly and took her to their room.

"Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail . . . go away."

He closed the door.


	9. Chapter 9

It was pandemonium. They had three wooden chairs but no table. A bed, but no mattress. A cat, but no food for the cat–and it was crying for some. Several half-opened boxes, and for some reason on the first day in the house, James needed a beater's bat, which was sure to be buried under all this mess, if here at all. Why had she left him in charge of the moving?

Lily sank down on a large, footstool-sized ball of cotton (of all things) and sighed. She was, in fact, home.


	10. Chapter 10

Lily was hot. She was bothered. She was hot and bothered, if you will, and she was also about the size of a blimp. James was trying to help, but really, he hadn't a clue what he was going through, and it was starting to tick her off. Immensely.

What's more, it was time. And it HURT. Stupid magical baby had to start sending sparks at her body. Why couldn't it just make evil contractions like a normal baby? "Sometimes I wish I was a muggle," she muttered, but she knew she was happy just the way things were.


	11. Chapter 11

"No!"

"Come on, Harry, just a taste–"

"NO!"

"Baby, honey, just try some mashed potatoes. They're yummy! You see?"

"Face it, Lils. You may as well give up. This persuading-your-one-year-old thing is full of bologna."

"Maybe we should put bologna in the potatoes?"

"Yes, that's it! That's exactly the solution!"

"You know, sarcasm isn't becoming."

"Neither is bologna."

"What?"

"What?"

"Waaaaah!"


	12. Chapter 12

"Lils . . . Lily, he's in the yard."

James couldn't tear his gaze away from the window.

"Wormtail . . . Peter . . . he betrayed us."

"He'll kill him!"

The man watched the brisk figure outside as it inched toward the door . . . "No. He can't. It's not fair, it can't happen, it has to work out."

Lily pulled him away then, tore him from Voldemort and looked him in the eyes. Her green ones broke his heart. "James . . . life isn't fair. Not always."

She buried herself in his arms. He kissed her, then, whisper-soft.

"Harry . . . he's going to make it."

Their last kiss made her believe him.


End file.
